第1108期:Out of Country

Doron: So Pernais, Jamaica's quite a small country, right?

Pernais: It is.

Doron: What's the population? Not exactly, just more or less.

Pernais: 2.7 million

Doron: Okay, that's pretty small. Do you have a problem with people leaving, like for university or of to get better jobs going to other countries?

Pernais: Yes, a lot of people leave, but I don't know if it's so much a problem because Jamaicans have been migrating for decades now. A lot of people don't know that half of the Jamaican population actually lives outside of Jamaica.

Doron: Half?

Pernais: Yes.

Doron: So that means there's like 5.4 million Jamaicans?

Pernais: Yes.

Doron: And only half of them live in Jamaica?

Pernais: Yes. Possibly.

Doron: Where do they usually go?

Pernais: Most Jamaicans that migrate go to America.

Doron: 'Cause it's so close.

Pernais: Yes. And because they have family members there. Maybe. And other people go to Canada and the U.K., for example.

Doron: Do you get a lot of immigration? Do you get many people moving to Jamaica to live from other places?

Pernais: Recently, there has been an increase in that. People coming from other Caribbean islands, especially with the situation, the economic situation in Haiti these days. A lot of Haitians actually come over to Jamaica to find work, and, you know, to... just to, just for a better life, really.

Doron: Is it very close?

Pernais: It is very close. It is quite close.

Doron: How do they usually get to Jamaica?

Pernais: By boat.

Doron: So...

Pernais: Which is quite dangerous, but...

Doron: Yeah, I hear a lot of it in history the last couple of decades of boat people, right? But you don't often hear about Haitian boat people. Usually, people getting in boats and trying to get to the States, right?

Pernais: Yes. But I guess Jamaica's closer, so they go for Jamaica.

Doron: Yeah. What kind of jobs do people go for when they get to Jamaica?

Pernais: Well, a lot of them end up working in bars and restaurants, and... yeah, just jobs like that.

Doron: I guess there's a lot of tourists in Jamaica?

Pernais: There are quite a lot of tourists.

Doron: So there must be a lot of jobs in the tourism industry.

Pernais: Yes. Always.